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I am pretty much one of the happiest SOB's right now.
What shall the name be, Winnipeg Jets, Manitoba Moose, Mannipeg Joose...
The Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg situation has narrowed to a point where it's quite possible there could be an announcement as early as Tuesday.
Lawyers on the Winnipeg side have signed off on the deal and the Atlanta legal team is doing their due diligence today. If they sign off on the deal, the sale will go through, pending league approval.
If there is no announcement Tuesday, the next likely target would be Thursday.
Once an agreement has been reached, True North is expected to launch a season ticket drive.
Fan590 is reporting the deal is to be announced at a press conference Tuesday at 10am. Talk last week was the deal would be conditional on a ticket drive, but I think they probably realize in the short term, ticket sales won't be an issue. There is also talk that this will be David Thomson's "foot in the door" to get the second Toronto team.
I Vote "The Winnipeg/Manitoba Flood" it kinda has a Colorado Avalanche or Carolina Hurricanes natural disaster theme going for it and honestly lets face it they will be a disaster.
I'm happy as hell to have another Canadian team, but I just don't see how this can work. The city is a stink hole and players are not going to want to live there. The only hope management has of acquiring players is through the draft or through trades. Free agency will work against this club...good players on the team that reach free agency will bail, and attracting free agents to Winnipeg will be difficult....to say the least. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid this club will be destined for mediocrity...rarely (if ever) making the playoffs and once the honeymoon is over, fans will abandon them....resulting in yet another Bettman failure. The city just doesn't have the population base to supply a never ending lineup at the box office for a consistently sub-500 team. I really do hope I'm wrong. (I know I'm right about Winnipeg being a stink hole).
Putting this team in Southern Ontario would be a massive hit...but the billionaire owners wouldn't get to roll around in the pile of cash they'll get for a new franchise in that location. It's better for the league to let a fledgling franchise languish in yet another location that can't support a team I guess.
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Back out on that road again
Turn this beast into the wind
There are those that break and bend
I'm the other kind
The Other Kind wrote:I'm happy as hell to have another Canadian team, but I just don't see how this can work. The city is a stink hole and players are not going to want to live there. The only hope management has of acquiring players is through the draft or through trades. Free agency will work against this club...good players on the team that reach free agency will bail, and attracting free agents to Winnipeg will be difficult....to say the least. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid this club will be destined for mediocrity...rarely (if ever) making the playoffs and once the honeymoon is over, fans will abandon them....resulting in yet another Bettman failure. The city just doesn't have the population base to supply a never ending lineup at the box office for a consistently sub-500 team. I really do hope I'm wrong. (I know I'm right about Winnipeg being a stink hole).
Putting this team in Southern Ontario would be a massive hit...but the billionaire owners wouldn't get to roll around in the pile of cash they'll get for a new franchise in that location. It's better for the league to let a fledgling franchise languish in yet another location that can't support a team I guess.
Right, thats why for the last 3+ years you've had to of the smartest men in Canada trying to bring a team back. I'm pretty sure they did there due diligence on this.
Major hockey players are like the traveling public.
They'll bitch about an airline right up until there have cheaper tickets.
With hockey players, they'll bitch about the city right up to the point that they are offered a sweet amount of cash. Which for us is a good thing as our payroll is only in the 38 Mil range and the salary cap is going up to 62 mil so we have lots ah money to throw at them.
The city is a stink hole and players are not going to want to live there.
Depending on your point of view, the same complaint could be made of many NHL cities, though. Edmonton? Toronto? Minneapolis? Dallas? What's the average NHL salary? And career length? $1Mill, and 5 years? If someone was to offer me $5 mill for 5 years in my early 20's to live in YWG, and then I could 'retire' and move anywhere else, I'd be all over that..
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Say, what's that mountain goat doing up here in the mist?
Happiness is V1 at Thompson!
Ass, Licence, Job. In that order.
Well, the drvie to 13000 season tickets went on sale at noon today to the general public and now 40 minutes later there is no more available. MMM ya think there is support here.
Absolutely, and that's certainly not a surprise. I really doubt that support will be there 3-5 years from now when the team is still floundering and the honeymoon is over. I could be wrong, in fact I hope I am. For sure though, there's certainly better places to put a team in this country.
To the poster who thinks a team in Southern Ontario wouldn't work....what are YOU smoking??
---------- ADS -----------
Back out on that road again
Turn this beast into the wind
There are those that break and bend
I'm the other kind
I heard Phil Esposito on the radio yesterday wondering how the economics work in Winnipeg. Basically, the ticket sales add up to about $56 million a year. A team generally has a minimum operating budget of over $90 million/year. With the NHL being a gate driven league, they question is how they come up with the other $35 million or so a year. Thomson obviously has the cash, but is he willing to write a check every year?
floatpilot wrote:I'm not smoking anything. How many teams would you like to have in southern Ontario?
I seriously think southern Ontario could support 2 more teams. At first blush, I think northeast Toronto and somewhere to the west of Toronto would be ideal locations. On the other hand, a second team at the Air Canada Centre might make more financial sense because you wouldn't have a group in debt for an arena (since there is zero chance the government will do it), and they might be able to get the Leafs to sign off on a team if they are going to have another tenant for the arena (Staples Center is home to one NHL and 2 NBA teams, plus concerts, so there's no reason the ACC can't do it too). And then put another team somewhere to the west, either Hamilton or Kitchener.
I'm unsure about Copps Coliseum though. It's an outdated arena and would need hundreds of millions in renovations, as was shown in one of Balsillie's various attempts to bring a team there. The Ontario government was willing then, but I don't know about now, and since it's owned by Hamilton, I'm not sure how much money a private person will throw in to it. They might just decide to build their own building.
